1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and specifically to an ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording using liquid ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ink jet recording apparatus discharges fine ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles that is provided in a recording head and forms an image onto the recording medium. There is a type of recording head, wherein the recording head is mounted on a carriage that is provided movably in the width direction of the recording medium and performs recording while moving in the width direction (main-scanning direction) of the recording medium.
A carriage rail that guides the carriage in the main-scanning direction to slidably move along the carriage rail supports the carriage that mounts the recording head. Also, the carriage can rotate about the carriage rail as a rotation center so as to adjust a position (degree of parallelization) with respect to the recording medium. Rollers are disposed on the carriage, and a guide rail that is extended parallel to the carriage rail is pinched by a plurality of rollers or the guide rail pinches the rollers so that the guide rail supports the carriage. Also, at the same time, the guide rail limits the posture of the carriage in the rotation direction with respect to the recording medium.
The posture of the carriage in the rotation direction with respect to the recording medium is determined by the position in the orthogonal direction (here, described as the vertical direction for example, in other words, the height direction) to the main-scanning direction of the carriage of the guide rail. Thus, if the position of the height direction of the guide rail is not constant in the main-scanning direction of the carriage, the recording is not performed in high quality. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-171194 discloses a method to make the posture of the carriage in the main-scanning direction to be constant. According to the patent, the position of the guide rail in the height direction can be adjusted in each of a plurality of portions so as to suppress the changes in the orientation of the carriage by the position in the main-scanning direction. In other words, a mechanism that can adjust the position of the guide rail in the height direction with respect to a supporting member that supports the guide rail is provided in constant interval in the main-scanning direction. Thus, the position of the guide rail in the height direction can be easily finely adjusted.
However, problems are present even using the configuration of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-171194 in a case where higher image quality is pursued. Specifically, when an adjusting or adjusted portion of one adjacent guide rail is adjusted, an adjusted portion of the other adjacent guide rail that was already adjusted is moved due to a stiffness of the guide rail or the like. In this case, re-adjustment may be performed to enhance the position precision of the adjusted portions of the guide rail and the intermediate position therebetween. To perform the re-adjustment, the number of adjustment processes and an adjustment time for adjusting the position of the guide rail in the height direction are increased and the guide rail that is adjusted with high precision may be difficult to mass produce. Further to the problem, a high image quality ink jet recording apparatus may also be difficult to mass produce.